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Inhabitants of Stratford upon Avon in Warwickshire
(1406-1535)The Hospital of the Holy Cross was founded in 1269; in time this fraternity became a social and religious gild. 'The Register of the Gild of the Holy Cross, the Blessed Mary and St John the Baptist of Stratford-upon-Avon' was edited by J. Harvey Bloom, rector of Whitchurch, and printed in 1907. The register is a record of admissions to the gild, an account of the fines paid by new members, and the names of those in arrear. Each year's record usually starts on the Monday after Ascension Day (the sixth Thursday after Easter), when the new aldermen, master and proctors of the gild were elected, all duly named. Then follow the admissions to the gild, including payments for prayers and candles (lights) for the faithful dead; and the names of the sureties for these payments. Interspersed with this are occasional proclamations and memoranda concerning the fraternity. A peculiarity of this publication is that the years given at the head of each page (e. g. 1502-3) are those of the regnal year (in that case 18 Henry VII) in which the Monday after Ascension Day fell. The regnal years of Henry IV, Henry VI, Richard III and Henry VII all started after that day in the calendars of 1399, 1422, 1483 and 1485; so the gild registers during those years actually cover the following year to that shown in this printed text (in that case, 1503-4).

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Allegations for marriages in southern England
(1679-1687)The province or archbishopric of Canterbury covered all England and Wales except for the northern counties in the four dioceses of the archbishopric of York (York, Durham, Chester and Carlisle). Marriage licences were generally issued by the local dioceses, but above them was the jurisdiction of the archbishop, exercised through his vicar-general. Where the prospective bride and groom were from different dioceses it would be expected that they obtain a licence from the archbishop; in practice, the archbishop residing at Lambeth, and the actual offices of the province being in London, which was itself split into myriad ecclesiastical jurisdictions, and spilled into adjoining dioceses, this facility was particularly resorted to by couples from London and the home counties, although there are quite a few entries referring to parties from further afield. The abstracts of the allegations given here usually state name, address (street in London, or parish), age, and condition of bride and groom; and sometimes the name, address and occupation of the friend or relative filing the occupation. Where parental consent was necessary, a mother's or father's name may be given. The ages shown should be treated with caution; ages above 21 tended to be reduced, doubtless for cosmetic reasons; ages under 21 tended to be increased, particularly to avoid requiring parental consent; a simple statement 'aged 21' may merely mean 'of full age' and indicate any age from 21 upwards. These are merely allegations to obtain licences; although nearly all will have resulted in the issuing of the licence, many licences did not then result in marriage.